The Partido Popular has used its overall majority in congress to defeat a motion presented by all the opposition parties calling on the government to follow all diplomatic ways to their end to achieve the disarming of Iraq. The defeated motion called on the government to work for peace and to abandon it solitary position. But the Spanish government remains firmly with the United States and the UK supporting military action, despite opposition levels as high as 80% among the people of the country. The voting in congress yesterday did however support a call from the Catalan party CiU that Spain searches for consensus with the European Union.
The President of the Government, José María Aznar, and the German Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, have in effect underlined their differences on the role of the weapons inspectors in Iraq. Spain continues to say that the problem is not a shortage of inspectors, but rather the lack of a wish to disarm on Iraq's part. The two leaders met yesterday in a bilateral summit in Lanzarote, and were welcomed by an anti-war demonstration from hundreds of people on their arrival. The Iraq crisis took up most of the conversations between the two leaders, with Aznar warning also that the search for a European consensus on the matter ahead of an extraordinary European summit called in Brussels on Monday, cannot go against the resolution number 1441 from the United Nations. Both leaders were however in agreement that they were worried about the internal division in NATO.
The defence minister in Colombia, Marta Lucía Ramírez, has said that a car bomb which exploded in Bogota killing 35 carried out by the FARC group had support from foreign groups, possible ETA and the IRA. She made the claim at the Colombian embassy in Washington where she was demanding help from the U.S. in the fight against international terrorism.
The Secretary General of the PSOE Socialist Party, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, has rejected a new offer to make up joint candidate lists with the Partido Popular in the Basque Country. Jaime Mayor Oreja from the PP considers that such an offer would show solidarity against terrorism, but Zapatero considers that the terrorists should know 'that they cannot do away with the pluralism of political projects'. He said that his party would be presenting its own candidates at the municipal elections in May.
The scientific committee set up to decide what best to do with the sunken Prestige oil tanker has proposed that the oil remaining in the tanker at a depth of 3,600m be removed. They say that such a complex operation would need the skills of several specialist companies and would cost some 200 million Euros. The committee ruled out the two other proposals of dynamiting the ship and collecting the fuel on the surface, or burying the wreck in a tomb of concrete.
The pilots on the Air Nostrum flight which overshot the runway in Melilla on January 17 this year were not drunk and had not taken drugs, according to a new expert report. The news was given by airline chief Carlos Bartomeu who refuted claims that the pilots had tested positive for alcohol and cocaine.
And finally,
A somewhat smug Pedro Almodóvar has said that events have proved that the
Spanish Film Academy got it wrong. He was referring to the Oscar nominations
released yesterday where he was included in two categories – Best Director and
Best Original Screenplay – for his latest film 'Hable Con Ella – Talk to Her',
but not mentioned in the Best Film in a Foreign Language category as the
Spanish Film Academy chose to send 'Los Lunes al Sol' to represent Spain.
Indeed at the controversial Goya awards held in Madrid two weeks ago,
Almodóvar's latest film was practically ignored, winning only one gong for best
original music. Almodóvar sees his film and nominations as a triumph for
Spanish film outside the country, while here the industry is deep in complaints
of crisis. Almodóvar was keen to point out however that he now felt' more a
member of the Spanish Film Academy than ever before – thanks to the joint stand
against war in Iraq. 'The government and the state television have achieved
the miracle of making us all in agreement on something', he said. President of
the Film Academy, Marisa Paredes said the Oscar nominations were 'good news for
Spanish cinema, and not a reversal for the Academy'.
Meanwhile there is some other good news for Spanish film industry. The new
film 'Mortadelo y Filemón', based on a Spanish comic strip, has broken box
office records. More than a million people have been to the 325 screens where
the film is on show in just it's first three days of release.